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Religion and from The Scientific Study of Religion by Milton Yinger, and other sources Not for Quotation. Substantial material from the source has been used with little or no modification and only occasional referencing. Religion can support or challenge the stratification system of a within families. Structural closure consists of limitations on society. Sectarian movements vary in the themes they adopt, due economic, political, and educational opportunities that prevent in part to the type of stratification system. The following dis- . If lower-class individuals accept these limita- cussion will clarify this issue in considerable detail. As we shall tions, the stratification system can be relatively stable. see, the relations between religion and stratification are very complex. Before discussing religious movements, we must re- The following table lists basic characteristics of three different view some basic information concerning social stratification. stratification systems classified according to their cultural and structural characteristics. Class descent affiliation refers to Stratification systems are maintain through closure devices that whether one is born into or achieves status. Class endogamy prevent social mobility. Closure devices can be divided into refers to whether members of a must marry within cultural and structural types. Cultural closure consists of assign- their status level. Institutional support for differential treatment ing membership in a class by virtue of descent. Birth into a refers to whether the institutions of society support the stratifica- lower-class family results in relatively permanent assignment to tion system. Acceptance of status by lower groups refers to the lower-class. Another cultural closure device consists of stra- whether members of the lower classes accept their status. The tum endogamy. Members of a class must marry within their table shows how different stratification systems are structured in class, resulting in a , or caste-like rigidity of class member- terms of these variables. ship

Types of Stratification Systems1 Type of System Affiliation by Descent Endogamy Institutional Support for Acceptance of Status by Differential Treatment Lower Groups Caste Yes Yes Yes Yes Minority-Majority Yes Yes No No Class No No No No reference group. If my reference group is above me, I feel my revolves around a ranking system. Individuals are own status is relatively low. If my references group is below me, ranked high or low in terms of their possession of valued social my status is relatively high. How high or low in status I feel resources. The three most basic resources related to status are depends, in part, on to whom I compare myself. The compara- wealth, power, and prestige. Usually, if individuals are ranked tive nature of one's sense of status is another determinant of life high on one of these three dimensions of status, they are ranked style and attitudes. For example, if I am statistically average in high in the others. However, sometimes individuals ranks do wealth, yet compare myself to my parents who were very poor, I not match. This condition is called . For will feel as though I have come a long way upward. However, if example, Catholic Priests enjoy very high prestige in our soci- my parents were much better off, I may feel that I have fallen, ety, but they have little wealth or power. and suffer a sense of loss or inferiority because of this. Individuals' life styles and attitudes are determined to a consid- Individuals' religious feelings and activities reflect among other erable extent by their social status. Status inconsistency, itself, things, their social status. However, the manner in which relig- also has an impact on people's lives. Even the particular form of ion reflects status varies enormously, according to historical, status inconsistency is important. Compare, for example, the cultural, social, and personality characteristics. The following status inconsistency of Priests, vs. that of entre- discussion will show some of these complex relationships preneurs who have much wealth, perhaps some power, and little through examples drawn from historical studies and contempo- prestige, especially among the upper-classes they are striving to rary surveys. Before turning to the discussion, examine the fig- join. These two different forms of status inconsistency are re- ure 1 and table 1. lated to different constellations of life style and attitude. Priests may feel sorry for the poor, feeling they are blameless for their Figure 1 on the following page shows the distribution of relig- condition. Wealth is not an issue in the lives of Priests. But ion by in the mid-twentieth century, lumping to- nouveau riche entrepreneurs' lives revolve around the accumula- gether religions that have similar patterns of class distribution. tion of wealth and frustration at being rejected by upper-class Episcopalians, Jews, Presbyterians, and members of United blue-bloods because they are insufficiently refined and their Churches were distributed fairly equally among the three major wealth is too new. Nouveau riche entrepreneurs are likely to feel social classes. The area contained within their boundary is about the poor deserve their status. Anybody who has risen rapidly in the same for each class. Fundamental and Holiness sects had a status, in one or another dimension, may be tempted into taking very different pattern of distribution. Their membership was credit for the achievement, thereby feeling that people who have primarily lower-class, and secondarily lower middle-class. not achieved are as undeserving as achievers are deserving. Table 1 is from the same time period, but from another source. Status is relative. People are wealthy, powerful, or honored only The categories are not organized the same as those of figure 1, so by comparison with some other person or group. Judgments of the data are not exactly comparable. Also, the data are from a status level are always relative. When judgments of status are slightly different time period. Note, however, the class distribu- made relative to some other group, that group is called one's tion within each specific religion. The percentages don't add up precisely to 100 because of rounding. Religions Distributed by Class Level

Mid-Twentieth Century Lutheran, Methodist, and Mormon

United States Baptist, Orthodox, and Episcopal, Jewish, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic Upper and United Church Class Fundamentalist and Holiness

Middle Class African-American Churches

Working Class

The pyramid respresents the entire population of the .

Each religious segment shows its class proportions in terms of the area of the pyramid contained in the segment.

Figure 0: Source—The Scientific Study of Religion by Milton Yinger, 1970

Table 1: Social Class Profiles of American Religious Groups Source: Religion in 20th-Century America by H. Schneider, 1952

Class Level Breakdown Denomination % Upper % Middle % Lower Christian Science 25 37 39 Episcopal 24 34 42 Congregational 24 43 34 Presbyterian 22 40 34 Jewish 22 32 46 Reformed 19 31 50 Methodist 13 36 52 Lutheran 11 36 53 Christian 10 35 55 Protestant (small bodies) 10 27 63 Roman Catholic 9 25 67 Baptist 8 24 68 Mormon 5 29 66 No Preference 13 26 61 Protestant (undesignated) 12 24 64 Atheist & Agnostic 33 47 20 No Answer or Don't Know 11 30 60

A point to remember is that these data constitute a moment in the data, since no systematic effort to collect this kind of data history. Over time, the relations between religion and class has ever been made. The project would require making consid- change, sometimes dramatically. The figures are presented in erable assumptions where information was missing. order to illustrate the fact of such relations. It would be a monumental undertaking to compile such data for the history of Another approach to the question of religion-class relations is the United States, and there would probably be large gaps in to review the history of various religious and political move- 2 ments. The history of sectarian movements demonstrates how and monks, and artisans and merchants. In its begin- religion and secular goals intertwine, depending on a variety of nings, it was a complicated hybrid, built on Judaism and on factors. classic Greek humanism, and on some mystery cults. It drew together many different groups who were united only by their opposition to the ancient world order and their discontent with Compensation for low status the prevailing religious attempts to deal with life's problems. It or status inconsistency developed a conception of equality which bound them together, Religion compensates individuals for relative deprivation and and yet left the differences that separated them close beneath the for status inconsistency. Sectarian movements are usually par- surface. Under Paul's guidance, the equality that was essential ticipated in by the lower classes. The experience of low pres- to Christianity was religiously interpreted. Christianity did not, tige, for example, can be compensated for by joining a group indeed could not, eliminate the status differences and their in- that defines its members as honored in the eyes of God and fluences on religious need and behavior. their community. Status achieved through participation in a The medieval theological synthesis of St. Thomas Aquinas was religious community can substitute for status not achieved in achieved under favorable circumstances of a relatively stable society. The leaders and officials of a lower-class church stand society that had little trade and lacked a money economy. Yet in high esteem in their lower-class communities. even that relatively unified view was opposed by the radical The nouveau riche experience status inconsistency. They may individualism of mysticism, by sectarian movements, and by be seen by others and may see themselves as over-rewarded. such theological protests as nominalism that denied the exis- They may adopt the religion of the established in an at- tence of absolute universals. tempt to be more accepted by them, and to avoid religious At various times in the history of Christianity, different status characterizations of wealth as threatening salvation. groups have been drawn together in joint efforts, only to break High employment and educational status among members of a apart when their different needs and values proved incompati- minority group may make them more militant than their lower- ble. For example, Luther, for a few years, united several status counterparts. The feeling that their low level of honor in movements that were held together largely by their common society is undeserved may make them less willing to accept the opposition to the Church and the society it reinforced. Luther way dominant groups treat them. was primarily concerned with reshaping the religious views of the world. His movement attracted humanists, German nation- Theodicy is a religious answer to the question Why is their alists, and , all for different reasons than Luther's spe- evil? or Why do we (or they) suffer? The upper-classes of soci- cific concern. Some of these groups hoped to use Luther's ety often adopt a theodicy of good fortune that portrays their movement for secular purposes. However, the kinds of religious success and the failures of others as deserved. Such theodicies formulations that seemed meaningful and satisfying varied are a sign of secret guilt. The theodicy justifies what otherwise among these groups. Soon there were defections once the secu- might be unjustifiable, especially in a religion that historically lar issues were decided. emphasized how wealth threatens salvation. The Humanists discovered that Luther did not share their griev- The poor can adopt the theodicy of glorification of suffering, ance against the superstition and tyranny of the rescuing themselves from a sense of earthly defeat by participat- Church. Many of the German nationalists were uninterested in ing in a supernatural sense of victory. A theodicy of rebirth can the specifically religious problems that were central to Luther. place resolution to the question in a next life, or a series of next When political circumstances were favorable, they were easily lives. Suffering in this life can be interpreted as payment for reconverted by the Counter Reformation. And some of the misbehavior in a previous life, or as down payment on a better peasants, when they found that Luther's doctrines had nothing next life. to do with the land-tenure system under which they suffered, Once the tone of a religion's view of human nature and the and when Luther harshly opposed the means they used to re- problem of evil is fixed in a religion by a specific class, that dress their grievances, turned to other religious movements. It tone will affect other strata who are within the religious tradi- was they who were the source of that other important part of the tion. However, as religion spreads between classes, each class Reformation, the radical sects, which played their role in the absorbs aspects of the religion in a unique fashion, modifying religious life of several societies other than Germany. Many it according to its members class-related needs. This changes who left the Lutheran movement were not simply expressing their perception and experience of the religion's truth. secular conflicts. For many, there were religious issues in- volved. However, differences in secular position affected the The major world religions have become complex and varied way they viewed those religious questions. systems for dealing with the fundamental problems of life, sys- tems from which different strata may select and emphasize dis- The complicated interplay between class and religion has been tinct views congenial to themselves, while sharing more basic most closely studied in connection with the Reformation and views with other strata at the same time. As societies become the several generations of drastic change that followed it. Draw- more complex and highly stratified, their dominant religions ing on the Old Testament, lower-class Christians frequently become loosely jointed aggregations of belief and practice. Al- used religion to protest the secular order. Their status has al- though they use many common symbols and share some doc- ways lacked consistency with their religion, because they have trines and rites, the classes will vary greatly in their definitions always hoped that the last shall be first. Their low social status of evil and their ideas of how one should deal with evil. is inconsistent with their sense of the religious value of pov- erty. Christianity began among itinerant artisan journeymen. In a few centuries, it became the religion of peasants and noblemen, By the fourth century, the apocalyptic hopes of the early Church were officially pushed into the background as the 3 Church increased in worldly influence. The kingdom of God ligiously, this included Presbyterians, Independents, and radical was interpreted as the soul. However, the apocalyptic tradition sectarians. They united and successfully prosecuted the revolu- persisted among the lower classes as popular religion. When tion that is usually referred to as the Civil War. However, their certain social conditions existed, apocalyptic religion broke out different status positions broke them apart and accentuated their in powerful sectarian protest movements. religious differences after the Civil War. The Presbyterians were supported by the aristocrats and merchants who had joined the Messianic cultural beliefs erupted among people uprooted from Parliamentary cause. They wanted to limit the political objec- traditional jobs, kin, and community ties. The lack of commu- tives of the War, to assert the sovereignty of Parliament, but nity and means of expressing grievances, coupled with weak- not of the people. They also wanted to preserve the sanctity of ened authority, both sacred and secular, caused the uprooted to property, whether real, personal, or political (except for the his- doubt that the Church could help them with salvation. At the toric rights of the Crown and the material possessions of the same time, some of them found new ways of making a living, Church). giving their less fortunate counterparts hope for a new future. As their hopes rose, their sense of relative deprivation in- At the beginning of the Civil War, the groups under the Par- creased. In society, hardships are taken for granted. liamentary banner were united in opposition to the king and in When trade and commercial production begin to flourish, indi- their fear of Catholicism. When the cause was successful, they viduals are stimulated to grandiose fantasies of wealth and were driven apart by differences they could not compromise. power. The merchants had no intention of relaxing ecclesiastical disci- pline that helped them control the classes they wanted to ex- In the eleventh century, opportunities and hopes began to trans- ploit, and enabled them to prevent the propagation of ideas they form the attitudes of those living close to commercial centers. considered dangerous or subversive. The lesser , small Their acceptance of and low status was weakened. The merchants, and tradesmen were afraid of being oppressed by a commercial changes also weakened the traditional aristocratic system of central control. They were aware of the drastic limita- institutions, thereby weakening the institutional support for tions the large merchants and aristocrats wanted to impose on stratification. political criticism. The small merchants and tradesmen insisted In the messianic movements of medieval Christianity, particu- on more freedom than those who dominated Parliament were larly from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, cul- prepared to permit. tural, structural, and character changes combined explosively. The sectarians and Independents wanted to see separation of The Book of Revelation is a Rorschach-like invitation to any- Church and State, and complete liberty of conscience in relig- body's chosen-people dream. Joachim de Fiore popularized a ious matters. The left wing of the Puritan coalition discovered heretical version of Revelation, placing the apocalypse in his that the right wing was no more interested in their economic time, in this world. His dream of grandeur was a paranoid delu- problems than the Royalists. They broke away from the Puritan sion that attracted other believers because it was drawn from coalition in both political and religious matters. their religious heritage, and because it embodied their dreams and anxieties. Puritanism could not hold together in a single coalition the diverse classes of the new, emerging capitalistic order. They all pointed to the teachings of John Calvin, but reached different The English Civil War conclusions from them concerning doctrine, church organiza- During the century following 1540, an industrial and commer- tion, worship style, ethics, and relationship to the state. The cial revolution created new influential classes whose activities Presbyterians emphasized the doctrine of predestination, an were hemmed in by the Stuart government. The merchant and elitist doctrine that harmonized with their demonstrated success business classes had enlarged considerably. This had intensified in business affairs. It armed them with proof that they need not the land shortage among peasants. An urban was be concerned with the poor, who were obviously numbered beginning to develop. All these groups were dissatisfied with among the damned. Predestination was their theodicy of good the political structure, and discontented with the religious es- fortune, to use Weber's phrase. Material suffering was inter- tablishment that supported the government. preted as a sign of guilt and nonelection to paradise. The linger- ing doubts Presbyterians had accounts for their rigidity in doc- By the time of Queen Elizabeth's death, the nation was sharply trine and asceticism, for they sought to prove to themselves, as divided. The King and Church were on one side, with Parlia- well as to others, that they truly were among the elect. The ment and the Puritans on the other side. The Established lower-classes objected to the doctrine of predestination. They Church, bound to the sovereign by statutes and oaths, sup- declared the equality of all individuals before God. Equality ported the Crown and the landed gentry. It taught, in the Homi- had political and economic connotations for them, as well as lies: religious meaning. ...that the King's power was from God alone; that, as Puritans claimed that knowledge of God came only through it was a perilous thing to commit to subjects the personal study of the Bible. This removed clerics from the role judgment [of] which prince was godly and his gov- of gatekeepers to religious knowledge, putting religious knowl- ernment good and which otherwise, as though the edge into the hands of educated, literate people, not the lower- foot should judge the head, it was in no case lawful 2 classes who couldn't read or write. The lower-class sects to resist, wicked though he might be. claimed that knowledge of God came from inner spiritual inspi- The new classes did not accept this doctrine. They turned away ration, a source open to them, as well. Inspiration can be expe- from the Church that denied their right to acquire power. They rienced by anybody, rich or poor, educated or not. became the dominant element within Puritanism. Puritanism The desire for a sense of election among the Presbyterians com- contained diverse classes united in opposition to the King. Re- bined with a fear of political and social anarchy, causing them 4 to support an authoritarian view of government. The lower- ian religion. Religious efforts changed when attempts to solve classes sense of duty and saintly discipline combined with their problems were inadequate. fear of tyranny, causing them to support rebellion. Cromwell blocked the political efforts of the lower-classes, abut could not The same transformation can be seen in the development of eliminate their knowledge and understanding of the conflicts Jewish hopes for an earthly kingdom into the idea of a king- that emerged during the Civil War period. With their hopes dom of God. Many Greeks after the third century B.C. retreated raised, the lower-classes were no longer stable. Despite their into mystery cults. Christianity, after its early phase, paid less continuing poverty and powerlessness, they were no longer and less attention to reformist dreams as the middle-ages pro- satisfied with their condition. gressed. After 1649 and 1650 that social consciousness could no longer be given direct political expression. Instead, Class and Religion in America it found its voice in the tremendous revival of mystical Religion and class have not been as closely associated in Amer- enthusiasm and millenary fervor that dates from those ica as they were in seventeenth century England. Nevertheless, years. If the price of political agitation was persecu- they have been connected. In America's early years, status corre- tion and imprisonment, it was much more convenient lated to an extent with geography, so that the religious tenden- to shift the initiative for social change to the cies of the Eastern seaboard were different from frontier relig- who could risk with impunity the wrath of the dicta- ion. The East retained middle-class Protestant national religious tors. And if the practical efforts of mortals had failed values. The polity corresponded to a class organized society. to achieve the desired results, surely God, in His time, Religion emphasized ethics, stable commerce and , would bring the eagerly awaited millennium.3 sobriety, and ritual religious expression. A later sectarian said that government would wither away. The The West manifested religions of the disinherited. The subcul- "despised ones of the earth" would triumph, while the rich men ture of the West was similar to the subculture of the revolution- would "weep and howl." Christ, said Winstanley, "is the true ary poor, especially concerning the emotional quality of their and faithful leveller." religious experience. The isolation of the West produced a crav- True religion and undefiled is this, to make restitution ing for companionship, making the lonely settlers susceptible of the Earth which hath been taken and held from the to crowd psychology to an unusual degree. common people...And the tithing-priest stops their As the nation developed, religion and class less and less corre- mouth, and tells them that "inward satisfaction of the sponded with region. The newer influences revolved around mind" was meant by the declaration "The poor shall population migration from Africa and Europe to America. Lines inherit the earth." I tell you, the scripture is to be of differentiation among white Protestants were overshadowed really and materially fulfilled...You jeer at the name by the growth of separate African-American churches, Roman Leveller. I tell you Jesus Christ is the head Leveller.4 Catholicism, and Judaism. By the mid-twentieth century, these The Puritan revolution was partial, at best. Cromwell supported groups together constituted over 50% of church members in religious liberty, but not the economic and political egalitarian- America. None of these religious groups were homogeneous in ism of the sectarians. The Restoration (of monarchy), even class level. Nevertheless, some patterns have persisted. more than the rule of Cromwell, made it clear that the lower- classes were not going to have their problems solved by a new Lower-Class Sects in the United States society. The Civil War made certain that neither absolute King nor absolute Church would again impede economic change, but By the nineteenth century, the Judaic-Christian millenarian the old and the more powerful members of the new culture was unacceptable to many of the urban proletariat in commercial classes found they had more in common than they Europe. In the United States, however, the rural and urbanizing initially supposed. They united in opposition to the lower- lower-classes were, and still are, heirs to a religious culture that classes and their radicalism. The Restoration was a compromise is both otherworldly and revolutionary. In this, they are closer between the aristocracy and the upper middle-classes to exploit to the Europe and English lower-classes of the sixteenth and the economic opportunities of their expanding commercial soci- seventeenth centuries than of later periods. The U.S. workers ety. have experienced many of the same kind of uprooting and breaking of ties with small communities and kin groups. In Anglican and right-wing Puritan alike accepted the basic struc- recent years, the framework of authority has weakened. Unem- ture of the new social order. They sought to assure individual ployment rates have varied widely, but have persisted among goodness and salvation within that order. The richest merchants the lowest classes of manual laborers. Labor unions have bene- and industrialists felt closer to the landed gentry than the lesser fitted the upper levels of the , but have not been men of business. By the eighteenth century, wealthy noncon- much help to the lowest levels. The uneducated and unskilled formists were joining the Anglican Church. The converging are still fertile grounds for the growth of sectarian movements. political and economic interests of the aristocracy and richer were matched by converging religious interests. When lower-class individuals move from a rural area into a city, to work in a mill or factory, they experience difficult ad- Opposed by this united front, the sects turned further away justment problems. Their lifestyles change enormously. The from the hopes for equality. They turned to quiet waiting for rhythm of work, personal associations, and placement in a the millennium, or to patient nonresistance, and to more relig- neighborhood all change. They enter a new social environment ious interpretations of life. The ideal of a new social order was wholly lacking in social contacts, at its most poorly organized abandoned in favor of a sectarian organization of mutual aid and level. Their sense of isolation is increased by the way they are brotherhood, communities instead of a society built on sectar- looked down upon by the established urban groups. Religion 5 may help deal with this by saying to them You are not alone. demning an evil world characterizes the message of the Salva- You belong. Your problems are not everlasting, and they have tion Army. They are but a step away from Billy Graham's more meaning. denominational formula for salvation that attracts more middle- class followers. In terms of service style, sermons, programs, and leadership, the established churches are poorly equipped to welcome lower- The common element among lower-class sects is their mem- class migrants. Lower-class sects provide them with the kind of bers' level of education and experiences in life. The sects substi- experiences they need to heal the distress caused by culture tute religious status for social status. They emphasize Grace. shock, isolation, and insecurity. The migrant may not have a What matters it, then, if a Methodist has more money if he has sense of economic protest. The urban lower-class sect offers a never been baptized with the Holy Ghost? Sects affirm separa- welcome mat, and the kind of emotional style of service that tion from this world. In the face of forced exclusion from soci- expresses and satisfies their needs more directly. Their members ety, they exclude themselves from society, making virtue out of are the emotionally starved. Factory work is monotonous. necessity. They transmute poverty into a symptom of Grace. Workers have little choice or control over the conditions of They have little money, yet they tithe to their sects, far surpass- their work. In the small religious group, members determine for ing members of more conventional churches in their per capita themselves the modes of expression of their needs and religious contributions. feelings. American sects rarely express their dissatisfactions directly as Lower-class sects are orthodox, as they see it, to a fanatical economic protests, in spite of the fact that poverty is a basic extent. By adopting orthodoxy, they say to themselves and cause of their growth. Sects increased rapidly during the depres- others that they belong to a very highly selected and exclusive sion of the 1930's. Most of the established churches had little association. New members are admitted only after having given to say about the depression. They neither pressed for secular evidence of a religious experience that shows they will abide by solutions nor paid attention to religious interpretations of pov- the group's norms. Standards of behavior are rigidly enforced. erty. The small sects that sprang up among the poor diligently A kind of modern asceticism assures members that they deserve tried to give religious meaning to poverty. They gave little or to belong to the group. no attention to the economic and political situation of the times. They were ascetic and introverted. Although some were The sects are quick to expel those who deviate. For example, sharply critical of society, they withdrew from society into one Free-Will Baptist Holiness Church in Gastonia, North apocalyptical hopes. Serious protests came from secular groups Carolina received 33 new members and expelled 24 members, such as labor unions and political parties. out of a total of 88. A Church of God with 143 members ex- pelled 30 in two years. Another with 95 members expelled 40 Why have most American sects been withdrawal types? Some in two years, and a third with 101 members expelled 20 in four of the reasons are: years. Expulsion is more than a means of maintaining moral purity. It also is a sacrifice. Religious purity is granted by God 1. radicalism had been secularized in Europe, and to a in return for what they have given up, many friends as mem- lesser degree in America bers. 2. the American stratification system is relatively open Within sects, desires for leadership, status, expressiveness, and 3. democratic institutions and the legal right to orga- assurance are dealt with. Members can give free rein to their nize labor unions provide alternative paths for protest emotions and attribute their thrills to divine agency. They make no great challenges to political and economic injustices. Most 4. the division of the working class into three separate sects accept America's institutions. Their members look to ethnic groups — white Catholic, white Protestant, and heaven for their reward, or to some apocalyptic transformation African-American, reduces the chances of radical relig- of the world. They see man as depraved. Only the second com- ious movements uniting workers ing will permit escape from this condition. Other sects, such as 5. American values of individualism, progressivism, Jehovah's Witnesses, emphasize withdrawal even more. Because and optimism mitigate against radical sect formation they believe that this is a world of sin, they must not only be indifferent, but must also withdraw from it and refuse its com- There are two varieties of hope that may come to religious per- mands. sons among those who feel deprived: hope that society can be altered in accord with religious values, and hope that society is American lower-class sects are usually avoidance sects. Avoid- sufficiently open that individuals can improve themselves if ance sects can be differentiated from each other on the basis of they are saved. Hope is mixed with different degrees of aliena- secondary themes that point some of them more to acceptance, tion. Aggressive sects are more likely to emerge among seg- and others more to aggression. Whatever the mixture, sects deal ments of the population who feel doomed to low status, such with members' economic problems by redefining them, not by as African-. offering ways to solve them as social problems in this world. They redefine them by collectively looking toward the future, beyond history even. This requires coming to terms with God, Consequences of Sectarian Movements as sects interpret God. Therefore, they emphasize confessions Some middle-class scholars who are unsatisfied by sectarian and the strict enforcement of rules. views assume that these views must be equally unrewarding to Among some American sects, there is a tone of individualistic others, not realizing that different needs, accustomed modes of optimism underlying their surface of pessimism. The Pentecos- expression, and available alternatives make sectarian views tal groups, for example, look at society less darkly than the meaningful to other individuals. Other scholars take a more Jehovah's Witnesses. Individual conversion rather than con- tolerant view, but use circular reasoning to argue their case. 6 They say that sectarian views must be effective and satisfying, illiteracy. The effect was particularly evident in re- otherwise sect members would not accept them. Between these tarding the development of working-class organiza- two extremes lies a more careful assessment of sectarian conse- tions. It may be questioned, however, whether stable quences. secular institutions would have developed much greater strength if the Salvation Army had not Many of the beliefs and practices of sects are drawn from peas- emerged. Another form of fanaticism almost certainly ant cultural traditions that may be less adequate views in the would have grown up in place of the religious.6 context of an urban environment. Neighborliness, for example, has an important meaning in rural communities, but it may Weston LaBarre arrived at a similar conclusion in his study of a have very different consequences when applied to the compli- snake-handling cult in the South. He interpreted snake handling cated relationships of industrial workers to an absentee man- as an effort of a deeply deprived and sexually repressed group to agement. Sects may be advantageous to business owners and deal with the guilty terror embedded in their repressions. By managers because sects direct attention away from this world to handling snakes, they act out their unconscious, guilt laden the hereafter. Better to hate the devil than the boss, certainly sexual desires. He saw no therapy in the cult, only bitter neces- from the point of view of the boss, who often supports sects sity financially. It is convenient to bosses that sects often define labor unions that focus attention and opposition on the boss as ...because of the pressures of their sadly neurotic and inspired by the devil. On the other hand, sects can encourage a archaic and unhappy culture, these people have to kind of self-control and hope that will help its members raise have what satisfactions they can without any psycho- themselves above their class by infusing in them a seriousness logical self-possession, without any knowledge of who they are, and what they are like, and what they are of purpose and dedication to task. Some scholars say that sects 7 function as a form of anticipatory socialization through which really doing. deprived individuals acquire the perspectives and motives of the The cult may help stabilize the social system in which it exists, middle-class. Their members are frustrated and deprived, but but it might be better if the system were altered. The following through faith and ascetic self-denial they can get a grip on propositions summarize the functions of sectarian religion themselves and succeed as valued workers. They acquire what among the lower-classes: Weber called inner-worldly asceticism, the essence of the Pro- testant Work Ethic that emphasizes self-control, achievement, 1. Sectarian beliefs and practices among the de- moral respectability, and sobriety. prived members of a society relieve the "pain" that many people feel as result of their highly disprivileged It is not enough to replace religion is the opiate of the masses position. with religion is the stimulant of the masses. Many who might join sects do not. Could it be that those who join already ac- 2. For those on the bottom of a status system, the cept their society's dominant values? Are they perhaps more sects are not usually dysfunctional in terms of eco- orderly and ambitious than their counterparts who do not join nomic and political institutions, because their adher- sects? Perhaps in sects they find support for views they already ents are not in any event equipped by training and in- have. Or perhaps they are alienated on a conscious level, while clination to challenge those institutions by other being subconsciously drawn to those values. Freud granted that means. For those who are in a slightly more favorable religion might be a substitute for neurosis, a substitute less position, however, a sectarian religion that discour- destructive than individual neurosis. Boisen takes this approach ages efforts to respond to deprivation by secular or re- in his analysis of Holiness sects that emphasize healing: ligious challenges to the existing social situation may help preserve that situation. They are the spontaneous attempt of the common peo- ple to deal constructively with the stresses and trials 3. Many individual adherents are helped, by the which fall with peculiar severity upon them. Their un- self-disciplines that the sect encourages, to improve concern with economic and social conditions which their own status; while at the same time the sect is ir- they are powerless to change and their turning to relevant to the social and cultural causes that continue problems for which they are directly responsible is to create such disprivileged individuals. not entirely an unwholesome reaction....In any case 4. The sect is inadequate, and perhaps completely these "holy rollers" are bringing to many distressed irrelevant, to the basic societal problem of freedom- individuals release from the burden of guilt. They are and-order, with which mankind has continually to giving them hope and courage and strength to keep struggle. The acceptance and avoidance sects are un- going in the face of difficulties. Insofar as they suc- able to deal with society as the "patient," and the ag- ceed in doing this, their economic and social status is gressive sects, with their inclinations toward a perfec- 5 likely to be raised. tionist view of man, are too unmindful of the difficult On the other hand, Clark implies that some attention to soci- problem of freedom-and-order to make a large contri- ety, not just to improving individuals, is necessary in order to bution to the reconstruction of society...a church-like deal effectively with the needs that the sects express. A move- response, by itself, is equally inadequate to this task. ment may be functional without being optimal. 5. A sectarian challenge, by calling vivid atten- In the long run...the effect of the Salvation Army was tion to problems of adaptation and integration in the to arrest the development of a stable urban order. churches, and in secular institutions as well, may People's attentions were diverted from the real prob- stimulate processes outside their own framework that lems of an industrial society; the Army following are of great importance for their members. In some tended to be held in a state of political and economic circumstances, the established organizations attempt 7 to "steal the thunder" of the sects, just as major po- passionate belief. Members of sects have passionate belief, and litical parties adopt the programs of influential "sec- it transforms their personal experience. In order to understand tarian" third parties in the United States. At other how this works, scholars and students who study religious en- times, the sectarian challenge leads to retrenchment thusiasm need to focus attention on the passionate beliefs in and coercion, as the dominant groups seek to main- their own lives. Only by examining the subjective impact of tain their power.8 their own passionate beliefs can scholars alienated from lower- class religion gain some inkling of what these sects do for be- Last, and most importantly, the ambivalence scholars show lievers. The study of religious behavior requires an appreciation toward the emotional self-abandonment and fundamental theol- of the nature of human consciousness, a tangled combination of ogy of lower-class sects reflects the impossibility of their par- sensory and imaginary structures. ticipating in sectarian religious experience. Their middle-class manners, the emphasis on rationality in academic scholarship, and their education make sectarian religion too implausible for

References

1. Milton Yinger, The Scientific Study of Religion, 1970, p. 283.

2. G. P. Gooch, English Democratic Ideas in the Seventeenth Century, p. 54.

3. David W. Petegorsky, Left-Wing Democracy in the English Civil War, p. 235.

4. G. P. Gooch, op. cit., p. 187.

5. A. T. Boisen, "Economic Distress and Religious Experience," Psychiatry, May, 1939, p. 194.

6. S. D. Clark, Church and Sect in Canada, p. 424.

7. Weston LaBarre, They Shall Take Up Serpents: Psychology of the Southern Snake-Handling Cult, p. 175.

8. Milton Yinger, op. cit., pp. 308-9.

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